San Diego Trip - Legoland

For our final full day in San Diego, we decided to check out Legoland. My grandma lives only 15 minutes away from their California location and yet we had never been. I had heard conflicting stories about the best time to visit Legoland--some people said it was better for young kids, others said it was more for older kids. But I can now definitely say that Legoland is definitely geared toward younger children. I think the perfect age range is 6-9 years old but there was still a lot for our kids to do and I'm glad we came now and not when our kids our older. There's not a whole lot for older kids. In fact, many of the rides have height limits and older kids/adults can't ride them at all.

In addition to the main theme park, Legoloand also has an aquarium and a water park. We opted just to do the main theme park which was perfect for one day. I heard the aquarium is not that great and our kids are probably not quite old enough to enjoy the water park. However, if you decide to go, you should still consider packing swimsuits and towels. Pirate Shores, which is part of the main theme park, has several water rides and a splash pad so you can enjoy the water and cool down on hot days. I wish we had been better prepared. We rode several of the water rides and got soaked.

We started our day in Heartlake City/Duplo Village. Adelaide insisted on riding the carousel first. No matter where we go, she always wants to ride the merry-go-round. 

David then took Zara to Fun Town where they have a driving school which I knew Zara would love. (I felt bad that we had never made it to Autotopia at Disneyland and Zara seemed quite jealous of her cousins who got to drive cars.)

Meanwhile, I took Adelaide and Benjamin into the toddler Duplo Village where they got to build lots of fun things. We even rode their little train which just goes around in a circle around some Lego rabbits and carrots and corn. 

We then rode several of the rides in the Fun Town area. They have a Driving School for ages 6-13 but they also have a Junior Driving School for ages 3-5 so Adelaide was able to get into the action. 

Three to five year olds are terrible drivers. 

 Next, we wandered through Miniland USA where they've recreated many different cities and locations in Legos. It's pretty impressive. The kids (and David) also had fun building ships out of Legos and racing them in the water there as well.

They also had a special exhibit  on Star Wars so there were tons of scenes re-created from all the films.

 At this point, we decided to take a break for lunch. Unlike Disneyland, Legoland doesn't allow outside food. But they do allow entry and re-entry so we decided to leave the park for lunch. We stopped at Trader Joe's and then went to my grandma's house to eat lunch with her. Like I said, my grandma lives only 15 minutes away so it was the perfect way to rest and relax during the height of the day's heat. My brother and his family also stopped by so we got to see them as well. It was nice to get a chance to see both of them again since it was our last day in San Diego.

After our two hour lunch break, we headed back to the park to see the other parts of the park--Pirate Shores, Castle Hill, Land of Adventure, and Imagination Zone. I peeked into Ninjago World but didn't do any of the attractions there. 

Zara and I rode two of their bigger rollercoasters together--The Dragon Coaster and Technic Coaster. They were pretty basic rollercoasters, but not terribly memorable. I think I preferred the dragon one more. 

Near the end of the day, we stopped by one of their stores to build our own minifigs. We each built one to represent ourselves though it was difficult because they didn't have a lot of great options for hairstyles/hats or clothes. I still love our little minifig family, even if Zara's is a little off theme.

Minifig Family: David, Liz, Zara (?), Adelaide, and Benjamin

Overall, I enjoyed Legoland and I'm really glad we fit it into this trip. I think the kids wouldn't have enjoyed it quite as much if we had waited much longer to take them. We might do it again in a few years, but they would definitely age out of it by the time they're teenagers. It wasn't as crowded as Disneyland and they do have a lot of areas to just play with Duplos or on playgrounds which is great for the younger crowd. It isn't run as tightly or efficiently as Disneyland, but it was still an enjoyable trip, especially for those who love Legos like our family does.

San Diego Trip - Wednesday

 

Wednesday was a low-key day in comparison. We started the morning by visiting the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum since it was right there on Miramar Air Base where we were staying. The museum is open to the public (we actually had to leave the base in order to get to the museum) but it has a great display of aviation machines including planes and helicopters. 

The kids loves running around and checking out all the planes. Benjamin, in particular, is a big fan of anything with wheels. The kids had a scavenger hunt to find all the different symbols on the planes.

 Benjamin and this statue were the same size which was pretty cute.

After the airplane museum, I drove David and the kids back to our hotel room and then I drove to Poway to meet my dear friend Nicole for lunch at the Wholly Crepe, a restaurant located in Poway's old town district. The crepes were delightful and we had a great time catching up. But like an idiot, we forgot to take a photo as evidence. 

After our lunch, we drove to Nicole's parents' house to pick up Nicole's newborn son. I got to hold him because I love, love, love newborns. I know many people don't love the infant stage, but it's one of my favorites. I need to get in newborn love whenever I can since I don't plan on having more tiny humans myself. 

I returned back to the hotel room where I discovered David and Benjamin napping and the girls bouncing off the wall. I took Adelaide and Zara to the playground across the street from our hotel. After a little playtime, we woke the others up so we could go to the beach. 

The kids adore the beach, sand, and water and we had promised that we'd go to the beach at least one more time before we left. 

We went to La Jolla Shores, my favorite beach. David and the kids got right to work digging a big hole and warding off the encroaching tide. 

The beach was still really crowded for being a late Wednesday afternoon. We only had a small patch of sand to ourselves but we had to keep scooting back because of the tide. 

The kids adore the beach and didn't want to leave, but we didn't want to stay too late either. We had a big day the next day. We packed up and headed home, stopping at In-N-Out for our last meal there. 

It was a good day.

California Trip - Sunday through Tuesday, Family Photos and More

The Sunday of our trip, we attended church in my parents' ward and then went back to their house for lunch. (But by the time it was ready, it was really dinner.) On Monday morning, the whole family met for family photos. We decided to do it in a studio as a way to manage all the kids, but I definitely prefer a more natural environment. Still, it's nice to have updated photos since our last family photos were nearly six years ago and there were a lot less grandkids. 

The Hayman clan.

Just the Malones.

Here's my parents with all their grandkids. Benjamin was clearly not feeling that excited by this point.

 All the girl cousins. I guess I never realized that Adelaide is the youngest girl. The other girls are all pretty close in age.

And now all the boys. The boys were struggled by this point, so we added the fathers into the mix to help them. 

After the picture taking, we headed back to my parents' house and we went back to their community pool to play together. My parents wanted to do a grandkid sleepover that night (because they're crazy but bless them) so after getting them bathed and changed after the pool, David and I escaped for our first date night in a very long time. 

Sleepover time.

We went back to our hotel and ate our leftover Mexican food (because good Mexican food is a sad thing to waste) and then went to see Wonder Woman which I absolutely wanted to see on the big screen. I had very high expectations for the movie and I would say I was only underwhelmed because of how high those expectations were. I thought it was a great movie overall. 

After the movie, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some ice cream because every good date should involve dessert. 

My dad putting Benjamin--and himself--to sleep.

The next morning, David and I went to the San Diego temple for a session and then stopped at Panera for a quick lunch before picking up the kids from my parents'. (I also stopped at a See's Candy to buy a pound of chocolates because I have my priorities and they don't have any stores in the East.) 

The kids had had a great time with all their cousins and the grandparents. After leaving my parents' house, we planned to drive out to see my grandmother to have a little one-on-one time with her. But when we were halfway there, Zara threw up in the car. (David's quick cat-like reflexes produced a bag almost out of thin air and he caught nearly all the vomit. Thank goodness. I wouldn't want to have to clean that out of a rental car.) 

Since there had been some sickness going around, we decided to just turn around and go back to our hotel so as not to infect my grandmother. (But Zara quickly recovered so I'm pretty sure it was just car sickness.) After getting the kids to bed, though, I drove back out to see my grandma and we had a great chat for a few hours just the two of us. It's always lovely to talk to my grandma. 

She told me a lot about her family, her step-mother (who she didn't get along with), her step-brothers, how she would have married my grandfather all over again, and about our favorite books and TV shows. After my visit, I stopped at In-N-Out on my way home because I was suddenly starving and because I had promised myself I'd eat as much of it as I could. Mission accomplished. 

California Trip - Grandma's Birthday Reunion

The whole reason for our trip to San Diego was for a family reunion. My grandmother (my last remaining grandparent) turns 90 this year, but even though her birthday is in December, we decided to hold her "party" in July since that was the best time for everyone in the family to travel. My entire extended family was there and it was so, so delightful to see them all. 

Saturday, July 15th was the big event. Family and friends took over the cultural hall in my grandmother's ward building for a luncheon and picture taking. We ate catered BBQ (though they did not give us enough rolls so I had to run to Albertson's to buy more) and Costco cake. (I have a longstanding love of Costco cake.) My mom did a lot of the planning and her efforts were very much appreciated.

There's not much to report from the actual event. There was a lot of catching up and socializing. And eating.

My cousin Brittany also put together a short little slideshow of my grandmother's life. She has a great story. And then we gathered together for some photos. 

Here's my grandma (center) with some of her friends.

This is my Uncle Ron's family. (Though technically Ron is my dad's cousin.) He lived with my grandparents when he was in college and has always been treated like a fourth sibling.

This is my Aunt Cheryl's family. She was the oldest child in the family. She and her husband Bill had five children and I count that her children have had 13 great-grandchildren (though more are probably still forthcoming).

Here's my side of the family. My dad was the middle child and only surviving son. (They had a brother named Edward who died the day he was born.) My parents had four children and we've produced another 11 great-grandchildren. 

And here's my Aunt Debbie (youngest child) and her family. Debbie and Mark added six kids and nine great-grandchildren to the family. There's a 10th baby on the way and I suspect more forthcoming. 

I always find it amazing how your progeny grows exponentially. From one couple came three children, 15 grandchildren, and 33.5 great-grandchildren. Simply incredible. My grandmother is a pretty incredible woman who left an indelible imprint on my life. I'm so glad we got to celebrate her. I always hope we'll have lots more time with her, but I'll always count this trip as a very special opportunity to spend more time with her. I'm so glad we were able to go. 

Even though we had eaten a big lunch, my family went to our favorite Mexican restaurant--Fidel's--for dinner that night. It was the only night we could all go together. So even though I wasn't terribly hungry, I valiantly tried to eat my tostada for the sake of family togetherness.

The cousins, as usual, loved spending time with one another and ate their weight in chips and salsa. Benjamin and Sebastian (the two youngest grandkids) just sat and laughed and laughed with each other in their high chair prisons. I'm excited to watch these boys grow up together. 

California Trip - The Beach and Bubbles!

Friday morning was a day of resting--at least in the morning since we'd had such a long day at Disneyland the day before. The kids--ever boundless in their energy--just wanted to play with Benjamin's bubble maker.

The had a blast playing in my parent's backyard. That bubble maker was totally worth the $22 we spent on it.

Because everyone was in town and since my parents' house is no longer large enough to fit the whole family, we all took turns staying at my parents' house or staying at a hotel. We'd been with my parents for three nights, so it was our turn to move into a hotel for the rest of our stay. My sister-in-law arranged for us to get suites at the Air Force base in Miramar which had a small kitchenette, two queen beds, and a pull-out couch. It was a nice set-up and much less expensive than other similar hotels in the area. It also made us miss the military life ever so slightly. There's something comforting about belonging to an organization like the military to make you feel like you belong.

After moving our stuff into the hotel, we headed to Carlsbad beach where we had arranged to meet up with other family members in town, particularly our cousins. I hadn't seen most of them since we'd left Utah nearly four years ago so it was a great reunion. I was only sad that I didn't get more of a chance to talk with them. By the time we arrived, it was nearly 4PM which meant the heat of the day had passed and the beach wasn't too packed. The kids adore the beach so they had a great time, but unfortunately I didn't get any photos.

After the beach, we went to Panda Express for dinner with my brother Jason and my cousin Justin and his family. So all-in-all, a pretty good day.